Organ of the Berchum Church
| Organ of the Berchum Church | |
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| General | |
| place | Hagen-Berchum |
| Organ builder | Unknown |
| Construction year | 1732 |
| Last renovation / restoration | 1976 by Klaus Becker |
| epoch | Baroque |
| Organ landscape | Westphalia |
| Technical specifications | |
| Number of registers | 12 |
| Number of rows of pipes | 17th |
| Number of manuals | 2 |
The organ of the Berchum Church in Hagen has a baroque prospectus from 1732. This is one of the rare historical mirror prospectuses : four of the eight smaller pipe fields are equipped with hanging pipes. After its restoration, the organ was the focal point of the opening concert during the first days of early music in Herne in December 1976 and at the same time also the first poster of this renowned festival series.
Building history
New building in 1732
The organ was built in 1732 for the Petrikirche in Dortmund as a two-manual instrument by an unknown organ builder. The organ builder GA Wild repaired it in 1806 and added a pedal with three stops. In 1828 the instrument was sold in parts to the Protestant parish of Berchum for 300 thalers.
Reconstruction by Mellmann in 1828
The instrument was transported to Berchum by the Dortmund organ builder Mellmann, where it was set up on a gallery newly built for this purpose. On this occasion, the entire lower case of the baroque prospectus was removed, the upper case was placed about 1 m lower directly on the gallery parapet and the gaming table was let into the side of the case. The now only single manual instrument had the following new disposition after installation in the Berchum church:
| 1. | Principal | 4 ′ |
| 2. | thought | 8th' |
| 3. | Quintatön | 8th' |
| 4th | flauto | 8th' |
| 5. | flauto | 4 ′ |
| 6th | octave | 2 ′ |
| 7th | Mixture III |
Further modifications
In 1858, the Dortmund organ builder Carl Herbst built in a second manual. However, he did not add any new registers, but divided the existing registers into two manuals, with the exception of the quintatön 8 ′. He converted this register into a drone 16 ′ for a pedal. This only had a pitch range of one and a half octaves (from C to f) and very small key spacing so that, in view of the narrow gallery, it did not protrude beyond the manual keyboards of the console set into the side of the organ case. All other smaller measures over the following 120 years could not eliminate the problems of an almost inoperable action due to its sluggishness and a strong tonal imbalance.
Restoration in 1976 by Klaus Becker
On the occasion of the renewal of the church vault, the organ, which had meanwhile become almost unusable, was completely renewed by Klaus Becker Orgelbau (copper mill near Hamburg). Unfortunately, only a few usable pipes were left, so that a decision had to be made to build the pipe factory almost completely according to baroque principles. The baroque prospectus was again supplemented by a lower case, the console was attached to the front of the instrument, which made an expansion of the very narrow gallery from 1828 necessary, the wooden prospectus parts including the veil boards were freed from thick layers of paint and the strong woodworm infestation was combated. The completely silent prospect whistles, some of which were just metal-painted wooden dummies, were replaced by whistles that were ringing.
Disposition since 1976
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- Tremulant : I + II
- Sliding coupler : I / II
- Rocker coupling : I / P, II / P
Presentation at the first “Days of Early Music in Herne” in 1976
Its presentation at the opening concert of the Herne Music Festival from December 2nd to 5th, 1976, in which it was played in concert for the first time by the co-initiator of the “Days of Early Music”, church music director Burghard Schloemann , speaks for the new quality of the instrument, also in terms of sound . The organ was then put back into service by the Berchum parish on December 19, 1976.
literature
- Organ of the Petrikirche Dortmund . In: Rudolf Reuter: Organs in Westphalia. Inventory of historical organs in Westphalia and Lippe . Bärenreiter, Kassel, Basel, Paris, London, New York 1965, p. 32.
- Archive of the Ev. Berchum parish, edited in: Peter Ulrich Schmithals: The old organ . In: 250 years of Berchum Church. Hagen-Berchum 1981, p. 31.
- Jost Schmithals : The organ today . In: Presbytery of the Evang. Berchum parish (ed.): 250 years of Berchum Church. Hagen-Berchum 1981, p. 36.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Archives of the city of Herne on city history , viewed March 19, 2011.